Kickoff to Love!
by SusumuSel
Summary: Oota Shou had a great 6th grade year with his friends. Almost winning the Galaxia World Cup, playing against professional players, making great friends and unforgettable memories, he now enters his middle and high school years. Their dream of aiming being the number one in galaxy as a team might of have been over, but that didn't mean their stories were over.
1. Departure to Spain

A few months after the 'Galaxia World Cup', everyone had applied to the middle schools they were planning to go to. Before school started in April, Aoto and Kota had decided to study soccer in Europe and were going to Spain. Today was the day that everybody was going to see them off.

Shou was the last to arrive at Central Japan Airport in Nagoya. Everyone had decided to meet 2 hours before Kota and Aoto's flight to Spain, so they could have some last moments with the two. Taking a map from the information booth, he found the food court, where the team was. Even though it was 5 minutes before the meeting time, the former Momoyama Predators were already there. Running over to his friends with his mother and sister trailing behind, he yelled out, "Hey Everyone!" Shou's loud voice echoed in the big airport, and even with the airport being a bustling place with many people, Shou's voice was heard by many. The team had turned around, but then looked away quickly, acting as if they didn't know him. Many strangers turned and stared at the brunet. He went over to his friends, not understanding why they didn't greet him. "Did you guys not hear me?"

"Oh, we heard you all right." Ouzou said while sighing. "The whole airport heard you." Kota added. Everybody laughed, and Shou looked away embarrassed.

"Now that everybody is here, it's time to congratulate Aoto and Kota for being accepted into one of Spain's best soccer faculties and school." Said Coach Hanaishma. Everybody clapped for the two, and gave her son a big hug. "That's my little baby~ Getting all grown up and going out of the country all by himself~!" The muscled woman ruffled his hair, while he glanced away blushing. His mother was embarrassing him! Ouzou looked up at the ceiling while Ryuuji sighed. Their mother was embarrassing them as well. Forgetting that it was the first time his former teammates ever saw him blush, disregarding his brothers of course, he looked at them confused at their silence when his mother pulled away. Breaking the silence, Erika pointed a finger at Kota in disbelief. "K-Kota..BLUSHED?!" Erika and Shou shouted in unison. Her voice was loud, but not a loud as Shou's. The youngest triplet stepped back and looked away when she pointed at him. The others recovered from their shock as well.

"This is the first time I've seen Kota-kun blush..." Reika said while smiling at him.

"It's a real surprise..." Tagi said while smiling as well.

"We've seen Kota-kun blush many times. It's quite normal for us." Ryuuji said shrugging his shoulders while Ouzou nodded in agreement. "Though, it makes sense if you guys are shocked, as Kota doesn't like to show his embarrassed side. " Ouzou smirked while teasing his brother and elbowing him in the side. Kota turned around and glared at his brothers. Then he looked at Aoto who was smiling smugly. He then directed his glare at his rival, and turned away again with a 'Tch'.

Shou's stomach growled loudly, and everyone stared at him. Rubbing the back of his neck, he grinned nervously. "S-sorry, didn't have lunch yet.." Having lunch now wasn't such a bad idea, and they were in the food court. The scents of a huge variety of foods entered their noses. From the right, came the scents of Japanese snacks and authentic Japanese food. From the left, there were the scents of foreign and fast food. "Woaah...there's a lot of choices." Shou said while looking around. The others nodded in agreement while exploring the many places. The parents, the coach, the manager, and Kyouko sat back and let the children run freely as they all sat in one restaurant to converse.  
The 8 preteens stood together trying to decide where to eat. "Should we have some seafood?" Ouzou suggested. Erika shook her head with a disgusted face.

"I hate seafood! Let's try pizza!" She pointed behind them towards a pizza parlor. Now it was Reika's turn to shake her head.

"My mother says I shouldn't eat food like pizza to stay healthy."

"If it's healthy food that you want, let's try vegetarian food." Ryuuji said while nodding. Shou made an 'x' with his arms.

"Vegetarian won't fill me up. Let's go for BBQ!" He yelled excitedly. Erika hushed him while glaring.

"You're too loud!" Putting his hands over his mouth he apologized.

"Sorry, sorry. But what are we going to eat? I'm really hungry!"

"Ramen." Kota's voice came out of no where. Everyone looked at him while he jabbed his thumb in the direction of the ramen restaurant. "I want to eat ramen." Tagi looked at Aoto and asked,

"What do you want Aoto?" The short blond looked up at his friend and then looked back at the others.

"Ramen is good enough for me." There was a silence for a moment, and everyone looked at each other not sure what to do. Ryuuji broke the silence, as he was the spokesperson.

"If it's what Kota-kun and Aoto-kun want, then ramen it is. They won't even be in the country by tomorrow." Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Race you there Aoto!" Kota said while he took off running.  
"Heh." Aoto went and ran after him.

"They're going to leave us in the dust! As the Speed Star, I will not loose to them!" Erika proclaimed, while also running after the two.

"Wait, Erika-chan!" Shou exclaimed, who started to run as well.

"Should we go after them?" Ryuuji asked.

"I guess so." Tagi replied, while Reika nodded. The three went and ran, also joining the race to the restaurant. Ouzou just stood there and sighed.

"What's the point in running there? It's not even that far." He said to himself while being the only one out of all eight to walk like a normal person would. But, in reality, Ouzou was just too lazy to run.

Entering the Ramen shop, Ouzou walked right into an argument between his brother and Aoto. "I won by a hair! A hair!" Kota yelled at Aoto while using his index finger and thumb to show the amount of space he had won by. "Not true at all. I won!" The blonde yelled back.

A tie again, what was it, the 345th tie so far? Yes, the two were keeping count. Ouzou stepped between them and put a hand on one shoulder of the two pushing them further away from each other. "Oi, we're in a public place, people are staring at you." Aoto and Kota looked around, and they saw that Ouzou was right. Many costumers and workers at the restaurant were watching their childish fight. "Now, come on, didn't you both want to eat ramen? Everybody's hungry and it's time to eat." The oldest of the triplets said. The two crossed their arms and turned away from each other with a 'hmph!'. Ouzou lead the two of them towards the booth that everyone sat at.

"You should become their babysitter, Ouzou-kun!" Erika said while laughing, which the others joined in, well, except for Ouzou, Kota, and Aoto.

"Very funny, Takatou. I rather not." He replied, getting into the booth. Aoto and Kota also entered the booth, frowning. Being told that they needed a babysitter wasn't funny.

When their waiter came over and asked what they wanted, each order a variety of different types of ramen. Instead of having a contest of how much food each could eat, Kota and Aoto tried someting different. They wanted to see who could eat the most spiciest ramen without drinking water. First, the two ordered the spiciest ramen on the menu. When their orders came, throughout the meal they kept adding spicy condiments to their food. In the end, both had made their ramen way to spicy and gulped down a glass of water at the same time. "Tch.." Kota glared at Aoto, who glared back. Sparks were flying while they had their staring contest. Interrupting Kota's concentration was the giggle that came from across the table, left from where Aoto was sitting. Who had giggled? Reika. The only girl on the planet that Furuya Kota had a soft spot for. His gaze shifting to Reika, who was laughing at a joke Erika was telling. What did the brunet feel for her? He wasn't sure right now. At first, Aoto thought he had won, but, it seemed like he had won way to easily. Then he followed his rival's line of eyesight, which was right on the heir of the Saionji family in the future. Did Kota have a crush on the small female on their former team? Aoto smirked at this thought, which Kota caught from the corner of his eye. "Ha? What is it, Gon?" He asked while narrowing his eyes at the tiny blonde.

"Do you really want me to say?" Aoto replied, amused. He moved his head in Reika's direction while smirking even more. Kota's eyes widened a little before going back to glaring at him. "Shut up."  
"But I haven't said anything yet."  
"You're speaking right now."  
"Fine, fine. I'll be quiet."

Luckily for Kota, no one was paying attention, as they were absorbed in their own conversations. Or so he thought. His two brothers had listened in to his conversation with 'Gon' and were quite interested.  
Ryuuji was watching both of the boys' actions, and had gotten a hypothesis. "I think Aoto-kun is indicating that Kota-kun has a crush on Saionji-san." He whispered to his brother. Ouzou agreed, and put on a smirk. "Shall we pry him about it now?" Ryuuji shook his head. "No. Kota-kun is our brother and we shouldn't reveal anything like this in front of the others. We'll ask him about it later." Ouzou scratched his hair and closed his eyes. "But, he's leaving today, remember?" Ryuuji tapped his chin, trying to think. This was surely a problem. How were they going to ask their brother if he had a crush on Saionji-san if he was leaving in about 30 minutes?

As Erika told Reika jokes, she noticed that Kota-kun was staring at Reika-chan for a while before he started talking to Gon-sama again. Even Erika used that nickname for Aoto, taking it from the triplets. Only difference was that she added '-sama' at the end. Nudging her friend, she whispered,

"Ne, ne, Reika-chan! Did you see that? Kota-kun was staring at you just now." Reika blushed instantly.

"Eh? Kota-kun?" The girl couldn't believe it, Kota-kun was staring at her, out of all people?

"Yeah. Yeah." Erika said while nodding. "Do you think this means something?" The red head asked.

"N-no! Maybe he was just spacing out!" Reika squeaked, while getting even more flustered. Before Erika could suggest any more ideas, the intercom turned on.

"20 minutes until 2:00 pm departure to Barcelona, Spain. 20 minutes until 2:00 pm departure to Barcelona, Spain." This meant that Aoto and Kota were leaving soon. Getting up, everyone left the restaurant so the two could head towards their flight Gate.

Meeting up with the adults, they headed towards the airplane. Making their final goodbyes, Ryuuji and Ouzou gave their brother a hug, and Ouzou whispered so that only his brothers could hear.

"Tell us about you and Saionji over the phone, 'Kay." Kota stared at them in disbelief while the two smirked at him. How did they know? Telepathic triplet powers? Of course not. Kota was still thinking about that when everybody came and said goodbye to him.

"Have fun in Spain, Kota-kun.." Her voice snapped him out his thoughts.

"Oh, yeah, I will." He said while smiling. All of the kids but Shou and Tagi gave him knowing smiles, and he narrowed his eyes at them. Poor Shou and Tagi, who were still oblivious of what was happening. Can't blame them for not knowing anything.

"Come on, let's go, Gon." Kota turned around to leave.

Aoto smiled smugly and followed him, "You don't tell me what to do."

* * *

**Note: ** In Japan, middle school starts in the beginning of April.


	2. Phone Number

Reika stared at the slip of paper in her hand. On it was the phone number of Furuya Kota. Why did she have it? Well, his brothers had decided to give her his phone number. Thinking back on it, Reika wasn't sure on what to think of it. It all happened too fast.

-Flashback-

_"Yo! Saionji!" Ouzou called out before Reika could enter her family's car. It was right after Kota and Aoto had departed from Japan, and were heading to Spain. Confused why Ouzou had said her name, she told their family's maid that her friend had to tell her something. She turned around and walked over to Ouzou, who was standing next to Ryuuji. _

_"What is it, Ouzou?" She asked, wanting to know what he needed. Ouzou turned to his brother and the two smirked at each other. _

_"We have something to give you, Saionji-san." Ryuuji said while Ouzou pulled out a folded slip of paper from his pocket. _

_"For me?" She asked while pointing at herself. What did these two have for her? If Erika was along with her right now, she would tell her not to take whatever they had. They were two of the 'Triplet Demons' after all. _

_"Put out your hands." Ouzou said, interrupting her thoughts. She did what he asked, and he dropped the slip of paper that he had pulled out into her hands. The small girl looked at her hands and then back at the two identical faces before her. Both faces had expressions that said 'Open it'. Unfolding the small paper, she found herself staring at a phone number. Whose was it?_

_"Kota's." Ryuuji said, answering her unasked question. _

_"Eh? Kota's?" She repeated while blushing. Why did they give it to her? Was this connected to the incident earlier where Erika caught Kota staring at Reika? No, no, Reika was thinking too much. Plus, she had told Erika that Kota must have been just spacing out. _

_"We left her speechless, Ryuuji." Again, Ouzou interrupted her train of thought while chuckling. _

_"Yeah." His brother said while agreeing. _

_"Maybe we shouldn't have given it to her." _

_"But, his reaction will be quite interesting." _

_"That's true." _

_His reaction? Were they referring to Kota? "Excuse me, but why did you give this me?" She asked, questioning their hidden motives. They gave her another smirk, which made her suspect them even more. _

_"We thought that you might want it." Ryuuji said while waving his hand nonchalantly. Reika stared at them and opened her mouth to ask more questions but before she could do so, the maid called out to her. _

_"We have to leave now, Mistress!" She turned around and nodded. _

_"I'm coming, !" Turning back towards the two boys, she waved. "I have to leave now...Uh, Thank you?" She thanked them for the phone number, even though she was still not sure why it was given to her. _

_"No problem." Ouzou said while still chuckling. She frowned a little, but turned it back into a smile. _

_"Bye, Ryuuji. Ouzou." She turned around and headed back towards her family car. When she had gotten there, Matsushima, the maid, asked her what she was doing. _

_"What did the two Furuya gentlemen want?" Reika looked away._

_"Nothing important..." She had lied. To Matsushima, the person she had trusted in the past to tell all of her secrets. Well, getting the phone number of a male was pretty embarrassing, so she had decided to keep quiet. Getting into the car, Reika watched the Furuyas through the window until they became little dots as she drove away. She had become very suspicious of their motives. _

-End of Flashback-

The present question was now what to do with the phone number. Throw it away? No...Someone might find it. Burn it? No need to go to that extent for a small slip of paper...Hide it. That was a good idea, until she figured out what to do with it. Putting it in a book, she placed the book on her nightstand. "Reika! It's time for your piano lessons!" Her mother called.

"Okay, Mama!" Reika called back, going to her closet to dress in proper clothes. While putting on her clothes, she kept looking back at the book she put Kota's phone number in. After finally getting ready, she looked back at the book one more time. Sighing she turned away from it and left her room.

* * *

Kota's phone rang, waking him up from his sleep. Looking at the caller id, it was none other but Ouzou. Picking up his phone, he answered.

"What do you want?" Ouzou chuckled from the other side of the line.

"Right off the bat, eh? How are you, Kota?" Kota was sure there was something up, or his brother wouldn't have called him one day after his depart.

"Tired." He said while grumbling.

"Sorry for interrupting your beauty sleep." Ouzou loved teasing people, especially his brother. But, he guessed it was time to ask his brother the question he wanted to ask. "By the way...did you get any calls from anyone in Japan recently?"

"No."

"Really? No one?"

"Yeah."

"Not even from a girl?"

Kota paused for a moment before answering. A girl? Sure, he had many fan girls, but so did his two brothers. None would have his phone number anyway, only if Ouzou or Ryuuji had given it to them. But, those two would never do that, as they disliked the fans as much as he did. So, what was his brother talking about?

"No." Kota said bluntly. If Ouzou wasn't going to tell him, then he might as well wait until he got an answer. He figured that he wouldn't get an answer that easily, so he might as well say good bye to his brother, as he still had jet lag from the flight.

"Night, Ouzou."

"Kota, wai-" He cut off the line before his brother could finish and put his cell back down. He put his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. A girl, huh? What girl was Ouzou referring to, to be more exact, which girl that he knew would be willing to call him?

"What happened?" Ryuuji asked when Ouzou put his phone down. He turned to his brother and shrugged.

"Hung up." Ryuuji sighed. Judging from the conversation Ouzou just had, it looked like Saionji didn't call him yet. Maybe they should give her more time before asking Kota again. Though, asking their brother repeatedly would make him suspicious of the two. All they could do now was to sit and wait.

* * *

After her piano lessons, Reika didn't touch the book she hid the paper in. Instead, she had decided to call Erika, inviting her for a sleep over the next day. In their phone conversation she was very vague, not letting Erika know many of details.

* * *

Curious to find out what her small friend was talking about during their conversation over the phone, Erika hurried over with her sleeping bag. She arrived at the front gates of the Saionji estate and rang the bell. While she waited for an answer, she looked at the house in awe. Erika had been here before, but the huge mansion still astonished her.

"Another example of what they call wealth disparity..." Erika said to herself while waiting for the gates of the Saionji Estate to open. The majestic house was even more astonishing than the Furuya house that lead her to comment about the wealth disparity of the world. Out of the little call box, the red head heard the voice of Matsushima, the family maid.

"Ms. Erika, correct?"

"Yup!"

"We have been waiting for your arrival." The gates opened allowing Erika into the estate. Reaching the front door, she was lead into the house and up the stairs, right to Reika's room. The maid knocked on the door, waiting for a response.

"Who is it?" Reika's soft voice called.

" is here, mistress."

"Ah, give me a minute!" Reika quickly put away the paper slip and put her folded her hands behind her back. "You can come in now." Matsushima opened the door and Erika stepped inside the room.

"Is there anything else you would need, Mistress? " The maid asked, but Reika shook her head.

"We're fine for now, thank you." The maid bowed and left the room, shutting the door behind her, giving Reika space to reveal her secret to Erika.

"So~ Now you have to tell me what happened~" Erika said with a smirk.


End file.
